Council bosses are in “advanced negotiations” with the potential buyers of three Canterbury car parks - after receiving a flurry of offers for the plots.

The sites across the city are all earmarked for housing in the authority’s current Local Plan, with papers showing they could accommodate up to 55 homes between them.

They include the overflow in Station Road West, Rosemary Lane and the St John’s Lane business-user car park.

Selling the spots is hoped to raise funds for the city council - as it bids to “balance expenditure” by jettisoning “under-performing” assets.

But the hard-up local authority has not revealed how much they are being bought for, or any further details about who the buyers are.

Four car parks were put up for sale last March, but senior councillors ultimately revoked the decision to dispose of part of the Longport site near St Augustine’s Abbey, as it was deemed important and well-used.

When the plots were put on the market, it was anticipated there would be significant interest and this seems to have been the case as it has been confirmed the authority received multiple bids.

Council leader Ben Fitter-Harding said: “For an authority that runs an ambitious capital programme it’s important to balance our expenditure on improvements for our district with receipts where public assets are under-performing.

“We have been careful to dispose of car parks that are surplus to current and future requirements, and to ensure parking supply is maintained - such as by opening the new multi-storey car park at Station Road West, which costs just £1.80 an hour capped at £10 for 24 hours.”

But as a KentOnline investigation revealed last month, the new car park - which cost £9.1 million to build - sits half-empty most of the time.

The 380-space site has been branded a white elephant by critics, after responses to a Freedom of Information request found it was used 207 times per day in 2022 – 54% of its 380-space capacity.

In contrast, the 41 spaces at North Lane car park – just 300 metres away – were used by an average of 303 people each day in its 41 spaces (740%).

Meanwhile, Watling Street has 412% of its bays used, as 712 people visited the 173-space facility every 24 hours.

The car park in Rosemary Lane has been shut for the last three years, while the business-user bays in St John’s Lane had to be reallocated to other sites.

The Local Plan sets out the planning constraints for each site that any future planning application will have to consider.

Council spokesman Leo Whitlock says “advanced negotiations” are taking place “after a number of offers”.